The article in last week’s Cynic concerning the military’s access to student records here at UVM is a powerful reminder that the government’s policies have a definiteimpact on people at campus.Their ability to get information on our education, address, Social Security number or gender and ethnicity seems to me to be an obvious overstepping of boundaries. Thefact that the government can withhold funding if a school does not comply is even more absurd.Military recruiters may be desperate to up their quotas, but this is not the way in which possible service members should be pursued.With all the information stored in a national database, there is a large chance that it could be shared with other government agencies or even the private sector. Our rights are being violated and in a major way.But, worst of all, most students have no idea that this is going on. Bush’s government agencies will continue to get away with policies like this until students become informed and actively oppose them.We need to come together and speak out against our loss of privacy. Withholding funding from school is, essentially, the government’s attempt at bribery. Unless we make an attempt to convince UVM that this is a violation of our privacy, they will most likely not even give a second thought to handing out information.Nothing is going to change until those who are directly affected speak up.I know that, personally, I don’t feel comfortable with the knowledge that a military recruiter could easily recite my GPA, Social Security number and parents’address. There is a line that needs to be drawn in terms of private and public information and this amendment has crossed it.If you also feel strongly about your records being released to militaryrecruiters, you can attempt to opt out of it by sending a letter to the admissions office asking for privacy.